The Bear King's Captive: Curvy Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

intersecting aisle she dashed past. Find the door. Stop the boat. She raced up steps two at a time. Shoving open another steel door, she saw the wooden deck in the widening gap. She staggered toward a squat man pulling a rope over the side.
    Heaving for air, she choked out, “Stop the ship! We have to get off!”
    The man stared at her with blank eyes. “No English.”
    A crane and loading platform “floated by.” Vertigo swung her vision. She grabbed the rail and closed her eyes. Recognizable words with a heavy accent drifted to her. She darted past the deckhouse, onto the boat’s topside lounge housing tables with umbrellas in the center and reclining chairs. The only thing missing was the cabana.
    By the starboard railing, a tall bald man hollered at people farther down the side catwalk. Dressed in normal street clothes, he didn’t look like the other deckhands, but he spoke English. Shuffling around folded recliners and closed umbrellas, Leah yelled, “Help me stop the boat! Please. Stop the boat!”
    The big man whirled around. His thick unibrow rose high, his eyes narrowed, and a smirk grew across his face. Leah froze. Instincts screamed back away. With two paces, he was to her. His hand clamped on her shoulder. “Hmm. Aren’t you delicious.” His eyes raked down her body. “What’s the problem, my morsel?”
    Leah pushed the hand holding her in place; his grip tightened. “We have to get off the ship. We’re not supposed to be here.”
    The bald man stared at her. “Follow me.” He released her shoulder and tromped toward the front deckhouse door. Leah hesitated, but saw no choice except to follow. Inside, the behemoth’s body filled half the wide corridor. Leah trailed him through another maze of halls and stairs. She thought they would be going up to the bridge, not dredging through the bowels. Her escort stopped at a metal door and raised the locking lever arm out of its cradle. Quickly, he moved inside.
    Leah stepped in behind him. The twenty-foot room smelled like a musty, decaying house. The only light came from a grimy bulb dangling next to the steel reinforced door. Her fingertips brushed over scratchy rust splotches peeking from seams in the wall. Before she questioned him, he grabbed her wrist, slapped a handcuff around it, and snapped the other cuff around a pipe entering through the ceiling and exiting through the floor.
    “What are you doing? Let me out.”
    He laughed. “Guests shouldn’t be roaming by themselves.” His eyes slowly moved down her body. “We heard about you sneaking onto the ship. We don’t take kindly to stow-a-ways. The commander is interested in you, as am I.”
    “No, you don’t understand. My friend was hurt and one of your guys--”
    His hand snapped out and pushed her face to the wall. Air gushed from her lungs as her chest compressed between fleshy rock and cold metal. His hand stroked her hair. The rest of the monster’s body pressed against her. “This way is my favorite way. It’s deeper, if you know what I mean.” His pelvis rubbed against her back. His chuckle sent shivers through her body.
    Everything and nothing filled her head. What had she done—sentence herself and the boy as toys for men at sea months at a time? This was all her fault.
    Voices from the other side of the wall filtered into the room. The door swung open wider and Ivan walked in, ankle iron-free. The beast stepped back. Leah reached for the boy, but the handcuffs yanked her back. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
    Seeing the man, the boy stumbled backward against the wall. The behemoth thundered out, slamming the door shut. The lever arm on the door’s outer side scraped against the metal as it rotated into its locking position.
    “I’m fine. They cut the thing off my foot and brought me here.” He looked at her with unabashed fear in his eyes. “Are they going to kill us?”
    Leah sat on the damp floor and tilted her head against the bulkhead. She needed to be strong